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Friday, 24 May 2013

Starting to set the scene

Alongside finishing the baseboard and building the bridge I have been experimenting further with the block walling. The Scalescenes printed paper sheets looked good, and will save a lot of time in painting. I printed them out on the laser printer at work - this gave a slightly darker and more defined finish, and is resistant to water drops (bubblejet ink smudged and ran when wet). I also understand laser prints are more resistant to fading.

Once the paper is applied to the card or foam-core model I have added a little relief by scribing with a blunt metal object - actually one point of my tweezers. It is easy to follow the printed courses and although the relief is barely visible, it does make a difference, especially when viewed at an angle. The depth of mortar courses is very small in reality so I think this is enough.

These photos show the embossed finish, that has also had some colour variation added using brown and grey weathering powders. Again this helps bring the prints to life, and allows dirt or rust staining. I don't have a green powder but I need to find a way to represent the moss on the real walls under the bridge. Finally a coat of Testor's Dullcote matt varnish should protect the paper and weathering powder, and ensures a nice matt finish. The piece of stone wall is polystyrene pizza base embossed with a pencil. So far I am not happy with the colour on this, or the render on the sloping buttresses.

You will also see the bridge has been painted. It was given a coat of red primer, then painted with brown rust colours. Dabs and smears of PVA glue where applied, and once dry, it was painted green. The glue patches were scraped off, and soaked off (leaving the bridge in water) to reveal lots of rust, final touching up and some weathering powders finish it. The result is not as rusty as in the photos of the real bridge, but the model is set 20+ years ago when the bridge was much newer!

Loosely put in place the bridge scene is coming together. I have bought a Gaugemaster sky backscene, but I'm not sure how best to fix it - any ideas?

Finally I've been looking for a fork-lift truck or other suitable vehicle to add to the scene. I haven't had much success so far, but I did find this in my son's toybox*. It is missing the seat and (obviously) the forks, but it might have potential with a bit of work. However it is a little over-scale, and I think much too modern for the late 70's/early 80's era of the model.

Just like to say that Epson DuraBrite Ultra ink for Epson ink jets is resistant to water damage and fading. Some of our cardboard model buildings are over a year old and show no sign of deterioration. I have no affiliation with Epson, just a railway modeller at http://ngaugelightrailway.blogspot.co.uk

Welcome to my Blog

If you are interested in model railways, particularly in narrow gauge, or small (micro) layouts, then I hope you will find this site interesting. I try to update it periodically with news of my current models and layouts, and anything else model-railway related (and sometimes not!). I usually model in 009 scale (1:76 or 4mm/ft using 9mm gauge track), although I have recently dabbled in 014 (1:43 or 7mm/ft on 14mm gauge track) as well. For more on my current and past layouts click the the links to the pages below. If you have any comments or feedback, do let me know!

About Me

I have been building model railways since I was a teenager, mostly in 009 scale though I have also worked in 00, and more recently 014.
I am a member of the 009 society (which is highly reccommended if you model in 009 or similar) and of the local area group of the society in Sussex, the Sussex Downs group.
Away from model railways, I am a chartered engineer working in the automotive industry, I am married with two small children to occupy most of my free time, and I am involved in the PA and technical things at my church. So I don't get a lot of time for model railway building!